“In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man’s proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it’s yours.” – JOHN GALT

Facebook Big Brother is Watching You!

Online privacy. This term may sound ironic but yes, every individual is entitled to either virtual or real-life privacy. Depending upon how careful or aware you are, everything you post online becomes part of the global online domain. Public blogs are readily accessible to anyone who surfs the net, so be careful about everything you post on your personal blogsites. Personal messages posted on social network sites like Facebook, MySpace, Tumbler, Multiply, and Friendster may be accessed by friends or everyone.

Many of us are Facebook addicts. I’m a Facebook aficionado. I usually stay online for about 12 or 14 hours a day. Sometimes I post about two or so messages or links on my Facebook wall. Everybody can view my Facebook status since it’s not on private mode, but I’m not comfortable with Facebook’s new scheme called “page sharing” feature. This automatic sharing feature enables your wall posts to appear on various Facebook pages. For example, if your wall post contains names or words like “President Obama,” “Socialism,” and “Islamic terrorism”, they would end up on the following pages: President Obama, Socialism and Islamic Terrorism.

Consider this: when I posted the following message on my Facebook status- “More than 20 years since the fall of the fascistic Marcosian era, the Filipino is still being fed with a mediocre lie—that this country is being confronted with a clash between socialism/communism and fascism”- it ended up on the related posts of Socialism page without my permission. My wall post containing the words “Islamic terrorism” also appeared on the Islamic Terrorism page without even joining it. When I posted the following on my status- “UP is the breeding ground of communism in the Philippines”- it ended up on Communism page.

Now I’m reminded of South Park controversy that stirred some religious zealots to issue online death threats against the controversial show’s producers Trey Parkey and Matt Stone for daring to depict the prophet Muhammad. The depiction of the ancient prophet has infuriated radical Muslim groups, including online website RevolutionMusim.com. This Islamic website claims that Muhammad has been mocked thus it demands the appropriate punishment of Parkey and Stone. The punishment for depicting the prophet is the same as the one imposed on Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh: Death.

So beware of posting anything on Facebook, especially when it can be categorized as “hate speech” by some religious and liberal zealots. For those who got addicted to Facebook, the question is: Are you ready to delete your account? Perhaps the solution is to lie low for a while. Refrain from posting sensitive posts that can be classified by some religious radicals, multicultural zealots, and crazy ethnic groups as “hate speech.”

Everything you post on Facebook can go to community groups without your permission.

Now if you use certain words or phrases on Facebook like Islamic Terrorism, torture, communism, socialism, democracy, FBI, CIA, guns, FBI or President Obama in your wall or status they are automatically posted on Facebook’s new community pages. Isn’t it scary?

When I initially commented I seem to have clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added-
checkbox and now each time a comment is added I get 4 emails with the
same comment. Perhaps there is a way you are able to remove me from that
service? Kudos!